Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125817
o .. N l ,... '" ~ > :; -. T.C. Does n Again CARISTENSON EQUALS NATIONAL RECORD WITH CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 'FUEL VICTORY '" :: w PITTSBURGH, PA., June 30 - Tom "T.C." Christenson . of Kenosha z Wisconsin, and his twin Norton 'powered W ...J AA Fuel dragster blasted their way to U > the Top Fuel victory at Pittsburgh U In ternational Dragway in the AMA·AMDRA third annual Summer National•. Christenson topped national, record holder Larry Welch of HyattsYille, Maryland, in the final round when Welch '. Triumph twin crossed the center line resulting in disqualification. Christenson equaled Welch's national record . f~r ili.e quarter.mile run during the ehmmations Sunday, turning an 8.81 e.t. Welch's best time for the day Was an 8.87. Other winners at 'the N alional Championship evellt, which also saw 16 new records established, were Marv Jorgenson of Minneapolis Minnesota on a Harley·Davidson in ihe Top G~ classification; Sonny Routt of Hyattsville, Maryland, in the Junior Fuel classification and Jack Clappler of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in Junior Gas competition. In Top Gas competition, where Jorgenson was the winner, National Num?er One of the drag set, Bob Maunello of Moline, Illinois, failed to ONTARIO NATIONAL SET WESTERVILLE, OHIO The Champion Spark Plug Company has announced plans to sponsor one of the world's premier motorcycle racing weekends - The Champion Spark Plug Motorcycle Classics - at Ontario Motor Speedw,ay, Ontario, California, September 28 through 30. This will be ,the third consecutive year for Champion to sponsor the American Motorcycle Association championship event at the famous 3.2 mile road course. Top ranking international riders are expected to contest the 250-mile Formula 750 event on Sunday, September 30. Anchored by a $39,000 cash purse, total prizes including contingencies will be in the neighborhood of $100,000. To allow room for the Champion Spark Plug Motorcycle Classics in the schedule, the 20-lap half-mile championship at Ascot Park in Gardena, California has been moved to October 6. Ascot will be the final points-paying championship of the 1973 AMA season, and will pay a cash purse of $14,000 plus con tingencies. jiM fi~ltbACk'S YAMAHA.. ~©U"]11.AH;\ ~ (714) 822-2252 ,9008 Sierra Ave., Fontana,CaI. get out of the second round when he killed his machine at the starting line. Other winners were Joe Mazziotto of Woodland who -captured the Competition Eliminator class aboard his H?nda; PassaIc, New Jersey's Frank Gilroy who won the Street Eliminator class on a Yamaha and James Yodock wh 0 won the Stock Eliminator competition on a Honda. Yodock from Catawissa Pennsylvania, will have to wait fo; verification of both his record run and his Stock Eliminator title pending the results of a post-race teardown RECORD RUN: . Class Name Make ET Speed B/F 0, Land Han 9.707 137.40 C/D W. Nvce Kaw 1020 12345 AA/A F. RaYborn H,D 10.30 128:75 B/A E. Ferreeci Hon 10.61 12534 D/A J. Trezma Han 10.01 121:29 F/A J. Mazziotto Hon 12.38 103.56 H/A D. Millar Hon 14,31 86.45 J/A T. Miller Yam 15.58 87.04 FF/MT.Engle Suz 11.91 10948 JIM T. Miller Yam 13.60 93.07 G/SS V. Force Suz 13.60 93.07 J/SS R. Hallowell Suz 14.44 86.12 DIS J. Yodock Hon 1302 9B 25 GIS J.R. Weber Suz 13B3 9155 GG/MF.Gilrov Yam 12.61 C/F S, Routt Tri 9.82 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING COM M ITTEE ESTABLISHED WESTERVILLE, OHIO For the purpose of improving the quality of National Championship motorcycle competition, the A!Ilerican Motorcycle Association has established a Professional National' Championship S tanding Committee according to provisions established by the Trustees of the AMA. According to those provisions, the eight man commi,ttee is composed of the Chairman of the AMA Congress, three members of the Executive Committee elected by the Class B members, one promoter from each of the three AMA regions e1ected hy all professional National Championship promoters, and one professional rider appoin ted by the Chaii-man. Serv!ng as Chairman in his capacity as ChaIrman of the AMA Congress is AMA Executive Director Russ March. His professional rider appointee is curre,nt AMA Grand National Champion . Mark Brelsford. The three Executive Committee members elected earlier this year are Roxy Rockwood, Bob Hansen and Ivan Wagar. Rounding out the committee are promoters Bill France from the eastern region, Allen Becker from the central region and Harold Murrell from the wes tern region. It will be'the duty of the committee to screen and select professional championship motorcycle events establish purses, set dates and research tracks whenever necessary. Their report will be submitted to the annual AMA Congress for f'mal gran ting of sanctions. The Professional National Championship Standing Committee is not involved in making rules for the races. BURAK TUNING SCHOOL SIMPLIFY world s·peedway ~======.=======By Peter White, by Peter White IVAN MAUGER DOWN IN BRITISH FINAL There were shocks galore in the British Final of the World Speedway Championship at Sheffield, England on June 21. Only half the field - eight out of 16 riders - qualified for the next stage of the competition, the British/Nordic Final at Coventry on August 1. And those eight riders contained rank outsiders at the expense of some of the hottest properties in European speedway today. Topping the meeting with 13 points was leading Englishman, IUy Wilson, of the Leicester Lions First Division league team. Wilson is the skipper of Leicester, the team for which Californian star DeWayne Keeter, rode in 1969. ' Defending world champion, Ivan Mauger, from New Zealand, was expected to win the British Final but was relegated down the points list wi th only 1 ~ to his credi t. However, Mauger's 10 pomts were enough to see him through to the next round. Shock second place getter was rip-roaring Australian, Bob Valentine who was riding on his home league track at Sheffield. V alen tine scored 12 poin ts. Also on 12 points were another Australian, the current Kangaroo national number one, John Boulger and high.f1ying. English teenage sensa'tion, Peter Collms, Then came Mauger in advance of Eric Boocock, younger of the two famous international Boocock brothers, Tony Davey and' Rick France. Boocock, Davey and France are all Englishmen. France and Davey are two surprise qualifiers. Both have battled the.ir w,,:¥, b~ck to the to\> f1igh t after senous InJunes which almost wrecked their racing careen. . France, a one-time world f'malist at Wembley" suffered severe shoulder injuries ip a bad crash at Coven try and was for some years on the sidelines. Now he is back in business and showing much of the power and promise at in temational level that he had in the early stages of his career. ~avey has hit the high spots after losmg two f'mgers in an acciden t at his home league track, Ipswich, last year. Davey fell in company with New Zealand rider, Roger Wright, and got his hand caught in Wright'_ back wheel ripping off two of his f'mgers. ' He was out of racing for some months but returned with a bang this season and has been going places in one hen of a hurry within the European speedway complex. While these two were showing all the grit and determination for which speedway stars are famous, others had to suffer...and at the peak of adversity were non-qualifiers Terry Betts, Martin Ash~y, Peter Smith, Jim McMillan,John L OUlS and Malcolm Simmons all world-ranked English riders,' and , Australian Garry Middleton. Middleton was originally the meeting reserve bu came in for a full place in the:. line-up at the eleventh, hour when top Porn, Chris Pusey, was injured in a tes t match in Poland. Most of the riders who were eliminated were expected to qualify for the next stage of the most prestigious speedway corIipeliti'on in the world and it is a major debacle that John Louis is not through. Loui.. is the man who rode in to a fighting fourti). place at Wembley last year in what was his fIrst ever World Final. He's come on a ton since then and was being tipped as a likely challenger for Mauger's world crown this time around. Now he goes to the British/Nordic Final as reserve only. In the meeting, as advised in my last column, the eight British f1ualifiers will meet the, top eight point scorers from the Nordic Final held at Norkopping, Sweden last month. Heading the list is 1971 world champion, Ole Olsen, from Denmark. ai_en disposed of a class field of Swedes to win the Nordic Final with an immaculate 15 point maximum. Placed second (with a broken leg!) was Bengt Jansson and third was Anders Michanek (both from Sweden). Other Swedish qualifiers are Bern t Persson, number two in the world by virtue of ills second placing to Mauger in the world fInal last year, Jan Sim,ensen, Tommy Jansson, and Gote Nordin. The eighth man is Norwegian ace, Reidar Eide. The top eigh t from the British/Nordic Final will go onto the European Final in West Germany where they will clash with the top eigh t from the Con tinen tal Final - mainly Russian riders. BRIGGS OUT OF WORLD LEAGUE In the meantime, European fans are poised to witness the fIrst-ever World Speedway League. The stage is England and the con testan ts are the major speedway countries of the world today who will be fighting for supremacy as top of the world. , First shock, before the series even' gets off the ground, is the news from Barry Briggs, MBE, that he will not be 'riding fof his native New Zealand. Briggs' terms were not met by the British Speedway Promoters' Association so he has refused to rac.e and after the lousy treatment handed down to him by tjle authorities over the world ch~pionship this season, who can blame hUD. New Zealand will now rely on Mauger, Ronnie Moore (who is being flown in especially for the series) and Graeme Stapleton. The Kiwis suffered another set-back When former NZ champion, Bruce Cribb, broke a leg in a league accident and will be unfit for some time. MOTORCYCLE PARTS AND ACCESSORY SALESMAN EARN 200 EXTRA DOLLARS PER WEEK Leading Japanese nut and bolt manufacturer can now. supply a comptete competitively priced line of hardware ilnd pay 20% commiSSIon. SIMPLIFY Your customers will get same day shipment from our Southern California distribution center. Offer this unique servic,) to your prewnt accounts an~ urn big commissions without making any extra slops For catal~ue write: The Bolt King 6051ah ~~~3X.lcen e BlVd •• Los Angeles. California 51 MPLIFY Detder Inquiries Invited IBas~.9,!?,~J '~~::'~I llfi. C FOUNTAIN WAY ANAttIEM CALIF 92106 .......•••...•..•.•....••••••..•••.•..• Mike P a t r i c k ' s O YAMAHA of CORONA 1101 E. 6th St. - Corona (714) 735-7721 ~Alsl".rf~ ~~U~~~ , 233 7th Ave., City of Industry. Calif. 91146 -~--~--~_. / CONTACT: K&N ENGINEERING. ON-W RIVERSIDE, CA 92501 P,O, BOX 1329